2012 National Artist Fellows

Alan Michelson lives and works in New York City. Through his conceptual work, he develops his pieces employing various mediums. “My understanding of place and history is shaped and conditioned by Haudenosaunee concepts and perspectives. The forms that I invent are often based on Haudenosaunee cultural models like wampum belts, blended with media or materials from the dominant culture such as video or glass,” said Michelson. “My work is grounded in place and informed by history, and therefore research is an integral part of my practice.”

Bennie Klain is a filmmaker creating documentary films that bridge Native concerns and social commentary, highlight universal themes and cultural inequities, and bring voice to Native communities on their own terms.

Sherwin Bitsui is a poet of exceptional depth whose visceral work is richly steeped in surrealistic imagery – the high desert, sage and piñon, black-eyed doves, the bricks and gasoline of the city – these sensuously dark psychic descriptions all inhabit his haunting verses.